ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the nature of the West German debate about strategy emergent from the revolution of 1989 to identify the cleavages within that country's political system. It argues that West German debate to the emerging tendencies within Western Europe about the future of the alliance. Nuclear weapons have been at the core of the deterrent relationship within the Western Alliance and in definitions of the East-West military balance since the beginning of the cold war system. The intermediate-range nuclear forces decision led to a major confrontation in the West between governments and significant segments of public opinion over the legitimacy of nuclear deterrence. The fundamental impact of the revolution of 1989 was to suggest that the East-West divide shaping Europe since the end of World War II could be overcome. The political role of the Alliance within East-West and Western negotiations about the future of European security requires modification of procedures and the institutional map of the consultation process.
